Dowlais
Dowlais
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 The Guest Memorial Library |
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 Dowlais
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| Dowlais shown within Merthyr Tydfil | |
| Population | 6,926 2011 |
| OS grid reference | SO075075 |
| Principal area | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Merthyr Tydfil |
| Postcode district | CF48 |
| Dialling code | 01685 38 |
| Police | South Wales |
| Fire | South Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | |
| Welsh Assembly | |
Dowlais (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈdɔu̯lai̯s]) is a village and community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. At the 2011 census it had a population of 6,926, reducing to 4,270 at the 2011 census having excluded Pant. Dowlais is notable within Wales and Britain for its historic association with ironworking; once employing, through the Dowlais Iron Company, roughly 5,000 people, the works being the largest in the world at one stage.
The name is derived from the Welsh du meaning 'black' and glais meaning 'stream'.
Dowlais came to prominence in the 18th and 19th centuries because of its iron and steelworks. By the mid 1840s there were between 5000 and 7000 men, women and children employed in the Dowlais works. During the early to mid 1800s the ironworks were operated by Sir John Josiah Guest and (from 1833) his wife Lady Charlotte Guest. Charlotte Guest introduced welfare schemes for the ironworkers. She provided for a church and a library. The school (dating from 1819) was improved and extended, becoming "probably the most important and most progressive not only in the industrial history of South Wales, but of the whole of Britain". In the 1850s, after Sir John's death, the works became under the control of a board of trustees. In 1865 the Bessemer steel making process was introduced to Dowlais, with £33,000 being spent on a new steelworks. Steel production at Dowlais eventually ceased in 1936 due to the Great Depression, although the iron foundry continued until 1987.
Dowlais was originally part of the parish of Merthyr Tydfil. In 1872 the population was 15,590. Its total population at the 2011 census was 6,926.
Dowlais still remains as an electoral ward. In 2003 Dowlais was represented by an independent councillor, John Pritchard, who was also Mayor of Merthyr Tydfil.
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